The Global War On Terror – Another predictable fiasco turns 17

Today marks the 17th anniversary of what could be called the most counter-productive, if not stupid, war in modern history: The Global War On Terror, GWOT.

Today that war is much much more dangerous to the world and its future than the terrorists it allegedly aims to hunt down. And it has caused thousands of times more suffering, death and destruction than September 11 did.

As yu’ll see below – the image above and below – the U.S. has been able to market itself as the innocent victim – which it isn’t. While countries and peoples who have been innocent victims and to a much larger extent do not have similar resources and control over the media narratives told worldwide.

We’ve heard a lot about “9/11” and that is only right, it was a terrible crime.

But why don’t you remember, equally well at least, “10/7” (US-led war on Afghanistan 2001) or “3/20” (US-led war on Iraq 2003) or “3/19” (NATO-led war on Libya 2011) or 4/7 (US bombing of Syria 2017 with military involvement beginning already 2011)?

Right! – these wars were not branded to create sympathy for victims. On the contrary.

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The war on terror was wrong from Day One. It’s not a war on terrorism but on terrorists which is as smart as trying to fight all diseases by killing all patients.

And it’s a war fought without any consideration of the one big question: Why did they do it and why do they do it? Media and politics only asking: Who did it? How was it done? Where? How to respond? Never the Why question? Because that question would raise to issues: Could they have a point? (not defending their methods but understanding their motivations) and did we ourselves do anything to provoke such feeling in other peoples and religions?

Without an intelligent, comprehensive diagnosis of 9/11, it could only go wrong. And it has. And it will.

The next problem was that ‘terrorism’ was suddenly defined by states as anything non-state that threatens society and states. Governments and the UN (which consists of them) conveniently omitted terrorism as a term for what states do and have done on a regular basis and on a much larger scale. Such as the nuclear balance of terror, a term that was delibreately taken out of the political vocabulary because it indicarted and important truth: that states practise terror.

About 400 people were killed annually and worldwide before 9/11 according to US State Department statistics – which, by the way, was discontinued stopped in 2004 when figures soared after the War On Terror gained momentum.

However, according to the 2015 Global Terror Index – the number is now 32,000 – and the far majority killed outside the West. So, the problem has increased exactly 80 times(!)

And the Western leaders who continue this war has no idea about how to stop it or do something more productive and intelligent. Primitive tit-for-tat and disproportional responses has substituted what was once called statesmanship.

And it was predictable that such an almost anti-intellectual approach would be a fiasco!

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Many both inside and outside the U.S. came up with different diagnoses, prognoses and proposals for responses to the cruel attacks on Washington and New York. So did TFF Associates. Below you’ll find just a selection of articles in English (we also wrote in Scandinavian languages and spoke in radio and television interviews) – posted within the first three months after 9/11 and then later).

We make them available for those who care about the world, about terrorism and for those who also have the moral courage to ask: How come that small independent organisations often predict the future much better than huge “intelligence” agencies, state research institutes and private so-called think tanks with multi-billion dollar budgets?

The answer is found in the question: independence, free exploration and free thinking. The opposite of the group think and political correctness that characterise most state- and corporate-financed research.

And why did – and do – media listen to those who advocated a violent response and to the masters of successive wars on Afghanistan or “10/7″, on Iraq or “3/20″ and on Libya and Syria – and drone warfare?

Further, why did virtually none of the larger media listen to any of those of us who argued in favour of a political self-reflection and a response to 9/11 in accordance with international law, ethics and the common good worldwide?

And why are all the leaders of the global War On Terror that has brought unspeakable suffering to the world and killed so many innocent people still at large?

An image illustration

Finally an illustration of the 9/11 propaganda machine that – mistakenly – is supposed to be helpful to the West:

The picture on top of this article is what you get by using a search engine for “September 11 – images”.

Below is what you get when you search “October 7 – images” – the day the US started the war on Afghanistan.

Clearly, you are supposed to remember one and forget the other – and so too the wars on and destruction of Iraq, Libya and Syria. No sympathy for the victims there – of our wars – and no empathy with the asylum seekers and the refugees from these regions.

About The Author

Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research
TFF is an independent think tank, a global network that aims to bring about peace by peaceful means. It inspires a passion for peace from the grassroots to the corridors of power.
TFF is an all-volunteer global network. It promotes conflict-mitigation and reconciliation in general, as well as in a more targeted way in a selected number of conflict regions - through meticulous on-the-ground research, active listening, education and advocacy.
The Foundation is committed to doing diagnosis and prognosis as well as proposing solutions. It does so in a clear, pro-peace manner. www.transnational.org